Pathological Altruism: White Man’s Burden?

Most Americans are familiar with thephrase: The road to hell is paved withgood intentions. On October 24, a respectedpsychology professorfrom California State University explained the science behind this growing phenomenon at a talk atThe Occidental Quarterly (OQ) dinner in Washington, D.C.

Kevin MacDonald, who is also the editor of OQ and writes for its news website The Occidental Observer, calls it “pathological altruism” (PA), a relatively new concept first mentioned in scientific journalsin 1984. It has not received much attention, however, until a book by that name, edited by BarbaraOakley, was published in December 2011 by OxfordUniversity Press. The book is reviewed and the subject thoroughly explored in the 2013 summer andfall issues of OQ, a conservative quarterly magazine on man, culture and politics from a Westernperspective.

Ms. Oakley defines PA in this way: “Pathological altruism can be conceived as behavior in which attemptsto promote the welfare of another, or others,results instead in harm that an external observer would conclude was reasonably foreseeable.”

When properly understood, PA is a scientific explanationabout why people do stupid things in thefalse belief that they are helping others when theyare only hurting themselves in the process.

The beauty of this new discovery is that it documents the evolutionary, biological and psychologicalcauses of this disorder, which adds muchneeded credibility to what we all know to be a severe lack of common sense.

Dr. MacDonald and OQ have correctly characterizedthe disorder as what has always been referred toas “bleeding heart liberalism,” the “cult of victimhood” or plain old “white guilt tripping.”

Whites have spent trillions of dollars over thelast half- century “helping” blacks here and inAfrica while in both cases most blacks are no betteroff than they were—some say they’re worse off—and many blacks hate whites more than ever.The same can be applied to every victim cause thatliberals have advocated, whether it’s illegal immigration, drug addiction or any other group portrayedas entitled to some type of special treatment.

Pete Papaherakles is a writer and political cartoonist for AFP and is also AFP’s outreach director. Pete is interested in getting AFP writers and editors on the podium at patriotic events. Call him at 202-544-5977 if you know of an event youthink AFP should attend.